Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Future of Man

So I have an idea for sci fi writers. It's 2212 and for the first time in a hundred years a MAN is running for the White House, battling all those stereotypes about men (bellicosity, lack of education, etc.)."

Hey, maybe I should write it... or Dr. Helen!

Or maybe Roger and I should collaborate on such a book or film--but the question is, would you read it or watch it?

31 Comments:

It's been done. An episode of Sliders had that plot, except it was (I think) for mayor of San Francisco. (There was another episode with the notion that women were entirely in charge due to a genetic illness that killed most of the men.)

I have a vague memory of an episode of Twilight Zone with a similar idea.

The two main characters, Maks and Albert, played by Jerzy Stuhr and Olgierd Łukaszewicz, respectively, submit themselves to the first human hibernation experiment. Instead of being awakened after a few years, they wake up in the 21st century, in a post-nuclear world, where all humans have retreated to underground living facilities, and, what's most important, where men had died out as a result of subjection to a specific kind of radiation.

I hate to tell Simon, but "bellicosity" is not always a negative trait in the leader of a group. The fact that he seems to assume that eliminating it is "progress" indicates something about how he thinks. And, no, I wouldn't read or watch a story like that. I read so much heavy, conflict-oriented nonfiction that the last thing I want in fiction is something as nasty and insulting as that promises to be.

As I bask in my geekdom, I've also seen Sexmission (thank Netflix). It's alright for a 1980s Polish movie. The movie is a bit of an artifact since it tackles the sex wars from a traditional view. Offhand I can't think of any movie or book where people discover their modern-pc ideas are idiotic.

Matthew, there's a sub-plot in S.M. Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time" featuring a very PC character and her followers who try to pre-emptively rescue the Central American Indians from the Evil White Man. Problem being that it's the year 1250BC, and the Noble Savages are far more savage than noble.

My beloved is working on a novel, the central motif of which is a nanotechnological breakthrough that bestows indefinitely prolonged life...on anyone who lacks a Y chromosome. I shuddered at the idea, but he suggested that I should nose around and find out what my female colleagues think of the possibility.

I shouldn't have asked them. All but one were strongly enthusiastic about it.

It sounds like a fun idea. Both of you are published writers so you should be able to pull off something like this. I used to read Roger's blog. I know he used to be a liberal and now he is more of a libertarian and apparently the character in his books (possibly Moses Vine) went through a similar transformation. I seem to recall something on the Sci-Fi channel (possibly back around 2000) that was about a women dominated world. I don't remember details so I'm not sure if men were extinct or just in small numbers.

BobH: Perhaps the candidate tries to convince the populace that on occasion fighting or getting angry can be a good thing.

And you are so hot that I read your blog for the opportunity to see your photograph (the red pajamas really work for you). If your picture is on the cover and Roger's is on the inside jacket, the book will fly off the shelves. A movie, it is all about casting. Get the right actors and the right director, it could work.

Civilization would never make it 100 years with a straight run of women leading things. Within 20 years there would be prohibitions so broad that they make the War on Drugs look a "War on Inconsequential Things that Affect No One." It would cover everything from smoking to watching football while your woman is wanting your attention.

You laugh, but the feminists actually pushed through legislation in Spain regulating household chore workloads between men and women. The Dark Ages would have nothing on the next 100 years with the way everything would be controlled with women running things.

Does that mean that there are more female legislators than male? If not, the Spain is still a patriarchy where women are opporessed.

(End sarcasm)

What it actually means is that no western democracy where women make up a large percentage of the voters and the ballots are secret, is a patriarchy. Power is too widely distributed. Women who say otherwise are quite simply lying, and they may be completely aware that they are lying.

jason, you just added another book to my reading list. I'd heard of that one, but my "No, seriously?" reaction to that subplot clinches it.

mercurior beat me to it - That's one of my favorite things to do with things like this: take my "switch the genders and see what you think" notion on the road and poll people. The results are totally predictable but really entertaining.

Okay – so everyone knows that some pretty scary stuff is happening to our world from war and economic crisis to global warming and climate change. But nobody seems to know how to stop these things from happening. Its like we all want to do better in our day-to-day life and be more responsible, but does it really make a difference?

It does.

I just finished reading James Ray’s new book called Harmonic Wealth and then attended a teleseminar with James about how we can spread Harmonic Wealth around the world. James really hit the nail on the head with this one idea. He talked about PHASE TRANSITION – it’s a scientific term that describes how when a critical mass of something (like a certain number of molecules) is met, then a shift in the entire structure occurs. It’s what they use to describe a liquid turning to gas at a certain temperature and that sort of thing.

James used it to explain how WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. Seriously. If it makes sense at a molecular level, than it makes sense on a global scale, too. If enough of us make those changes happen in our own lives (get the Hybrid, recycle, go carbon neutral, vote against war, etc.), at a certain point we will hit critical mass and the change will happen for everyone! You can feel it happening already and I certainly want to be a part of it.

Check out his book at the Harmonic Wealth website: harmonicwealth.com/read

CarrieThe concept would be nice… if it worked. Concepts of “Global Warming” are much more political / economic than science: read Michael Crighton’s “State of Fear” for his research into GW presented as fiction. If the goal of reducing CO2 is that important, stop / change Cement production. I don’t remember the % impact on global CO2, but it’s something > %25. However… Cement highways are more fuel efficient to drive on then asphalt (which also contains carbon based products). Which action is best? They are all based on the idea of CO2 being the cause but there is strong evidence that the impact of CO2 is much smaller than the loudest opponents want people to hear.

As to the idea of voting against the war; will “the other side” also be in that vote? Their actions have to be accounted for.Mind you I’m not knocking the general idea you presented, but I think it’s an over simplification.

MikeTGenerally speaking, if a governmental system doesn’t work, it will either evolve or break down. If an female dominated government ran for 100 years, it would have been because it adjusted to the environment it was operating in. Personally I don’t care about race or gender of those in government, I care about character, philosophy, and actions. I don’t mind paying taxes, I mind taxes being wasted. I want a long peaceful period in history where the US isn’t at war. “They” can put down their guns first.